The Cape boys' volleyball team is back in the finals of the DIAA state tournament following a 22-25, 25-21, 25-19, 17-25, 15-12 win over Wilmington Charter in the semifinals May 19, at St George's Technical High School.

The Vikings will face Salesianum in the finals Thursday, May 21, at Smyrna High School.

The Vikings defeated Sallies 3-0 in the 2023 final. Sallies defeated Cape 3-1 earlier this season. 

It was a battle royale May 19, as the Cape and Charter tried to outpower each other, but neither squad could grab a lead of more than a handful of points in any set.  

Cape was led by the senior twin ivory towers of Lawson Whaley and Braxton Figgs, smashing down 23 and 15 kills, respectively. Whaley also bumped nine digs.  Senior Ryder Van Horn powered in 10 kills, while serving three aces. 

"This has been a dream of mine all through high school: to compete for the state title with my boys," said Figgs. "And I'm stoked to say I have one more game with them. We played a heck of a match. It wasn't perfect, but they made a play and we made a better one."

Jason Harpel-Rickards put up 48 sets and bumped nine digs, while libero Anton Schierenberg bumped 13 digs. 

"That was the most fun I've had in my life," said Harpel-Rickards. "I'm so grateful to be here and I think we earned it. I think everyone played great. It's so surreal."

Blake Fitzgerald and Jacob Panyko had eight kills and eight digs, respectively.

"It's an unbelieve feeling," said Van Horn. "To watch us win states as freshman and losing the next two years in the playoffs, this is a unrivaled feeling. I can't put it into words. We had some stumbles, but we kicked right back into it. The way we lifted each other was awesome. The coaches, the bench, the managers and the fans, everyone contributed to this win."

"I don't know what to say," said Whaley. "I've got to admit, I was scared going into the fifth set. I didn't want to go down here. We played great to win this one." 

"I thought we played a brilliant set three," said coach Tyler Coupe. "Going into the fifth set, I was thinking if we were strong enough to win considering we played a deflated fourth set. We haven't had success in two five-setters this year to [Caesar Rodney] and Newark Charter, and they know that. There was a heavy emphasis in trusting our fundamentals trusting our core positioning. We went out with a big lead in the fifth at 12-8, and we let them back into it. But we kept grinding through rallies and we kept our composure."